Mechanism for operating box-car doors.



H. F. JEROLAMAN.

MECHANJSM FOR OPERATING Box CAR DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 24. |919.

l ,SG1 ,445., n Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

ATTORNEYS.

UNITED HENRY F. JEROLAMAN,

nr f

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MECHANISM FOB, OPERATING BOX-CAR DOORS.

Application led -lfanuary 24:, 1919.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HENRY F. JEROLAMAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Mechanism for Operating Box-Car Doors; and I do hereby declare that the following description of my said invention, taken in connection with the accompanying sheet of drawing, forms a full, clear, and exact specification, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates generally to improvements in mechanism for operating box-car doors and it consists, essentially, in the novel and peculiar combination of parts and details of construction, as hereinafter first fully set forth and described and then pointed out in the claims.

The object of this invention is the production of an efhcient, and serviceable mechanical means for opening and closing the doors of box cars, which, especially in the, at present, prevailing employment of freight rcars having a very large capacity and consequently increased weight, are rather difficult to open and close, the result of which may be noticed by the inspection of a freight car of the nature mentioned, which has been in use for some time and shows the result and damages to the car door by the employment of a crow-bar which is generally resorted to in cases where the door cannot be readily opened and closed.

In order to overcome this drawback, I construct the mechanism for opening and closing the car-door in the preferred embodiment of my invention, as illustrated in the drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which- Figure l is a side elevation of a ortion of a box-car body, showing the oor in closed condition, and illustrating the application of my invention in position for opening the door.` Fig. 2 is a like view showing the door in opened condition, and the mechanical means in position for closing the door. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation on the indirect line 3`-3 of Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a sectional detail, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of the operating lever and associated parts. Fig. 5 is a sectional plan of the door and parte thereon connected with Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 22, i919.

Serial No. 272,883.

the operating mechanism. Fig. 6 is an ele-4 vation of a fragment of the device; and Fig. 7 is a plan of a portion of the device illustrated in Fig. 6.

Like parts are designated by the same characters and symbols of reference in all the various figures.

A, in the drawings designates a portion of a box-car body of usual construction; and B, the slidable door employed for closing the door opening C in said car body. There are two of these doors on each car, and they are usually provided with hangers I2, having track wheels moving on tracks 13, whereby the doors are suspended, and the car sills 1.4

are provided with brackets 15, which retain the lower ends of the doors in vproper position when closed. There are also secured to the car body stops 16, which limit the distance to which the car doors may be moved in opening, and battens or stops 17, adjacent the door openings C to limit the closing movement of the door. As thus far de scribed the car body and its doors are, as already stated, of usual construction, and it is to this class of cars to which my invention is best adapted for use.

The car sides and the doors are alike in construction, and I shall, therefore, refer to them and the operating mechanism in the singular number.

To the facing 18 above the door of the car body there are strongly secured, two outwardly extending brackets 19, 19a..v which are in spaced apart relationship, and the eyes of which receive a, preferably round, rod 20. Upon this rod there is slidably and slightly oscillatably mounted a depending lever D, which reaches downwardly to nearly the lower end of the door to bring it within convenient reach of an operator. This lever is a Hat bar of proper dimensions, the upper end of which is twisted'at an angle of approXimately l5 degrees, as best shown in Figs. 6 and 7; and is punctured to engage the rod 20, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

Upon the face of the door, preferably slightly above the lmiddle ofthe door there is securely fastened a iat bar E, extending entirely across the door and having its ends bent at right angles as shown at 21, Fig. 5, to embrace the two vertical edges of the door. From this bar extend a multiplicit of Teheped projections 22, 22, 22, wine projections may be formed integrally with the bar E, or secured thereto in any approved manner; and over this bar there is placed a second bar F, which latter bar performs the function of a guard to prevent the lever D from moving outwardly beyond a predetermined limit.

Attention is now directed to the T-shaped projections on the bar E, under the heads of which the lever D will be placed when the door is to be moved; and let it be assumed that the door B is closed and is to be opened: in this case the upper end of the lever D will be in close proximity of the bracket 19, and be behind the T-shaped projection 22 on the bar E. By now pulling at the end of the lever D, (the bracket 19a and rod 20 forming the fulcrum ofthe lever, and the projection 22a the point of resistance) the door can bc readily moved; and it is desirable to do so by a step-by-step movement, c'. after having moved the door a certain distance the lever D is disengaged from the yT-headed projection 22a, swung over the next succeeding projection 22", and another bite taken, which operation is repeated until the door B has been moved the desired distance. By operating the lever D as described, it will always be in a nearly perpendicular position and the force exerted upon the door be, therefore, in line with the movement of the door, so that but a slight effort on the part of the operator will suilice to open the same, and wedging of the door entirely prevented.

Projecting from the door near the upper and left margins thereof there is secured to the door a stop :24, which stop performs the function of moving the upper end of the lever D upon the rod Q0 toward the right when the door is being opened; and at the opposing margin of the door there is a like stop 25, which when the door is being closed pushes the upper end of the lever D back to starting position. The object of thus shifting the fulcra of the lever from one to the other bracket is to bring the lever D in approximately vertical position when cmployed in opening or closing the door, as hereinbefore described I have hereinbefore indicated that the upper end of the lever D is twisted to an angle of approximately /ldegrees. The object of thus twisting the lever is to cause it to pinch the bar 'O when desired by a slight axial rotation of the lever. In this lcase the lever will be operati ve for moving the door even should its upper end be at some distance from either bracket because it will `bethen held by frictional contact upon the rod 20. In this connection I desire to state that while I prefer the twisted construction of the lever D, to an angle of 45 degrees, good results can -besecured by twisting the upper end of the lever D to an angle of 90= degrees, but in this case the lever cannot be made to pinch upon the rod 2O as readily as when the'angularity is 45 degrees. And I may also here state that fairly good results can be secured by making the fulcrum of the lever D a fixed one, which can be accomplished by shifting the brackets 19, 19, close enough together to receive the upper end of the lever lI) lbetween them and ymaking the rod 20 correspondingly shorter. In this case the two brackets 19, 19, should be in line with-tho right vertical margin of the door when closed, and, which is the same, be in line with the left vertical marginal line of the door when open. This will requirethat the lever D be placed at an angle when irstacting upon the door, but after the first stepmovement has been made, subsequent steps may bethe same as hereinbefore set forth.

I have hereinbefore stated that the bar E extends the entire width of the door B which leads to the assumption that this `bar is a single piece. IVhile I prefer to thus make the bar, it is obvious that it may also be made in several pieces; and that the process of casting this bar or the pieces constituting` thisbar, can be readily produced inthe process of casting in malleable iron or mild cast steel.

While I have hereinbefore described fthe preferred embodiment of my invention, I desire it to be understood that I amaware that changes in the details of construction may be made, and parts omitted without dcparting from the scope of my invention as defined in the subjoined claims.

Having thus full described this invention, I claim as new, and desire to secure to me by Letters Patent of the United States the following claims- 1.' Mechanism for opening and closing thel doors of box cars, comprising, in combination, a car body, a slidable door, a fulcrum secured to the car body above said door in close proximity to the upper .edge of the door, a lever pivotally connected to said fulcrum, said lever being constructed to swing pendulum-fashion across the face of the door, a bar, said bar being longitudinally secured to the face of the door, said bar having a series of spaced-apart projections which said lever is constructed to engage to open and close said door by a step-by-step movement of-said lever.

2. Mechanism for opening andV closing the doors of box cars, comprising, in combination, a car body, a slidable door, a fulorum' secured to said car body above saiddoor, a lever pivotally connected to said fulcrum, a bar, said bar being longitudinally `secured to the'face of the door abovethemiddle of the door, said bar having a series ofspacedapart projections which said lever is constructed to engage to open and `close the `door byV a step-by-step rmovement'of saidJ lever, and a guard for said lever to prevent Outward. movement of said lever beyond a predetermined distance.

3. Mechanism for opening and closing the doors of box cars, comprising, in combination, a car body, a slidable door, a ulcrum secured t0 said car body above said door in close proximity to the upper edge of the door, a lever pivotally connected to said fulcrum, a bar, said bar being longitudinally secured to the face of the door, said bar having a series of spaced apart, T-shaped projections which said lever is constructed to engage to open and close said door by a step-by-step movement of said lever, said lever being constructed to swing pendulumlike across the face of the door and over said bar.

4. Mechanism for opening and closing the doors of box cars, comprising, in combination, a car body, a slidable door mounted on said car body, a fulcrum secured to said car body above said door, a lever pivot-ally connected to said fulcrum, a bar secured to the face of said door above the middle thereof, said bar having a series of spaced apart, T-shaped projections which said lever is constructed to engage to open and close the door by a step-by-step movement, and a guard over said bar to prevent outward movement 0f said lever beyond a predetermined distance.

5. Mechanism for opening and closing the doors of box cars, comprising, in combination, a car body, a slidable door mounted on said car body, a pair of spaced-apart brackets secured to said car body above said door,

a rod connecting said brackets, a lever rotatably and slidably mounted on said rod, a bar secured to the face of the door above the middle of said door, said bar having a series of spaced-apart projections which said lever is constructed to engage to move said door by a step-by-step movement of said lever.

6. Mechanism for closingand opening the doors of box cars, comprising, in combination, a car body, a door slidably mounted on said car body, a pair of spaced-apart brackets secured to said car body above said door, a rod connecting said brackets, a lever rotatably and slidably mounted on said rod, a bar secured to the face oi the door above the middle portion of said door, said bar having a series of spaced-apart projections which said lever is constructed to engage to move said door by a step-by-step movement and a guard on said door for preventing outward movement of said lever beyond a predetermined distance.

7. Mechanism for opening and closing the doors of box cars, comprising, in combination, a car body, a door slidably mounted on said car body, a pair of spaced-apart brackets secured to said car body above said door, a rod connecting said brackets, a lever rotatably and slidably mounted on said rod, a bar secured to the face of the door above the middle portion thereof` said bar having a series of spaced-apart, T-shaped projections which'said lever is constructed to engage to move said door by a step-by-step movement, and a guard on said door for preventing outward movement of said lever beyond a predetermined distance.

8. Mechanism for opening and closing the doors of box cars, comprising, in combination, a car body, a door slidably mounted on said car body, a pair of spaced apart brackets secured to said car body above said door, a rod connecting said brackets, a lever rotatably and slidably mounted on said rod, a bar secured to the face of the door above the middle portion thereof, said bar havinga series of spaced-apart, T-shaped projections which said lever is constructed to engage to move the door by a step-by-step movement, and a guard on said bar and in spaced relation thereto to prevent said lever from moving outwardly beyond a. predetermined distance.

9. Mechanism Jfor operating the doors of box cars, comprising a car body, a door slidably mounted on said car body, a pair of spaced-apart brackets secured to said car body aboye said door, a rod connecting said brackets, a lever rotatably and slidably mounted on said rod, a bar secured t0 the face of the door above the middle portion of said door, said bar having a series of '1F-shaped projections which said lever is constructed to engage to move said door by a step-by-step movement, a lguard on said bar in spaced relationship thereto to limit the outward movement of said lever beyond a predetermined distance, and stops on said door for moving the upper end of said lever upon said rod.

In testimony that I claim the `foregoing as my invention, I have hereunto set my hand.

HENRY F. JEROLAMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

